Green facility launched to promote economy, achieves climate targets

BINTANGNEWS.com
–A
recently launched finance facility is expected to bring long-term finance to
projects and companies that will eventually stimulate green growth and improve
rural livelihood.

Consisting of a loan
fund and a grant fund, the Tropical Landscapes Finance Facility will help
Indonesia to promote economic development while at the same
time contributing to the country’s climate targets under the Paris
Agreement.

Steering committee
chair Kuntoro Mangkusubroto said the facility would use public funding to
unlock private finance in renewable energy production and sustainable landscape
management that hopefully could reduce deforestation and forest degradation and
restore degraded land.

“This ground-breaking
and innovative financial platform, a world’s first, can transform the lives and
livelihood of millions of Indonesians in rural areas that deserve it the
most,” he said during the launch of the facility in Jakarta on Wednesday.

Representatives of
business communities, financial institutions and civil societies attended the
event.

Environment and
Forestry Minister Siti Nurbaya Bakar said, “We need to ensure that our
landscapes produce sustainable goods. We fully support the Tropical Landscapes
Finance Facility, which is in line with Indonesia’s sustainable development
aspirations.”

Meanwhile,
Coordinating Economic Minister Darmin Nasution said the Indonesian government
realized that the country could only achieve Sustainable Development Goals
(SDGs) through holistic approaches, such as integrated landscape
management.

“The Tropical
Landscapes Finance Facility aims to improve smallholder productivity while at
the same time conserving our natural environment.”

Key partners
include BNP Paribas and ADM Capital, which will act as fund managers for the
loan fund. UN Environment will manage the secretariat. BNP Paribas is a member
of the UN Environment Finance Initiative.***